Business briefs: Caledonian Industrial | SMEs | City

The number of jobs in the City fell last month despite signs of a recovery in the economy. Picture: AP

THE Edinburgh-based rail plant division of Caledonian Industrial has been sold to Story Contracting.

Caledonian sells off rail plant division

The business provides track maintenance services across Scotland to Babcock, a key contractor to customers including Network Rail, Transport Scotland and First ScotRail.

Story already has sites in Carlisle and Normanton, West Yorkshire, and the addition doubles the size of its plant fleet to more than 50 vehicles. Seventeen staff from Caledonian will transfer to Story.

Scotland’s SMEs are bullish on next year

Almost all of Scotland’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have plans to invest in their operations next year, according to new research from Clydesdale Bank.

The survey suggests that more than 94 per cent of Scottish SMEs will invest in growing their business in 2014. UK-wide, the survey suggests that more than 4.5 million SMEs, or 97 per cent, have some plans to invest.

And it is not just optimism driving the plans, as almost two thirds of firms said they were trying to keep up with growing demand.

New jobs in City 12% down on last year

The number of new jobs in the City of London fell last month despite signs of a recovery in the wider economy, new research has shown.

Recruitment firm Astbury Marsden said 2,335 new posts were created in October, down from 2,380 the month before, and 12 per cent fewer than a year ago. Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at Astbury Marsden, said the financial performance of the big investment banks is still not robust enough for them to go on a hiring spree.

£49m to boost engineer numbers

The UK government is pledging £49 million to help engineering firms tackle skills shortages in the sector.

The news comes as professor John Perkins, chief scientific adviser to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) today publishes his analysis of the talent pipeline for engineers.

His review is expected to include a call to action to government and the engineering community to address the skills shortages within the industry.